WEBVTT 00:00:05.599 --> 00:00:07.360 Hey, I'm Pastor Steve Hole. 00:00:07.679 --> 00:00:11.759 I want to empower you today to walk in your true identity as a worshiper and warrior. 00:00:11.919 --> 00:00:15.839 Today, embrace the power of God's Word and the Holy Spirit. 00:00:16.000 --> 00:00:19.120 Welcome to the Born for War podcast. 00:00:24.239 --> 00:00:32.320 So we are looking at my book, Breakthrough Courage: Nine Habits to Conquer Fear and Build a Brave Heart. 00:00:33.119 --> 00:00:36.960 And I am just, I'm kind of cherry-picking certain habits. 00:00:37.039 --> 00:00:39.039 I'm not even going in a sequential order. 00:00:39.119 --> 00:00:41.200 I want to encourage you to read it. 00:00:41.679 --> 00:00:57.600 It does follow an order in the book, but I want it, I feel like I'm being led by the Spirit in what to teach on this, and we're not going to cover it all because I want to get into the book of Joshua in the coming weeks. 00:00:58.159 --> 00:01:07.439 But the way it works in the book is you have habit one, which is seeking the first thing first. 00:01:08.159 --> 00:01:13.840 Habit two, which is embrace hard, which is what Ryan covered last week. 00:01:14.159 --> 00:01:18.959 Habit three is develop bloodstained allies. 00:01:19.760 --> 00:01:26.159 And then habit four is what I'm going to talk about today, which is face the unmentionables. 00:01:27.280 --> 00:01:34.560 So the reason I'm saying that is because bloodstained allies is before face the unmentionables. 00:01:34.799 --> 00:01:41.599 But I've talked so much about bloodstained allies through the years, I just felt like you can read it here. 00:01:41.840 --> 00:01:49.840 But I haven't covered as much on facing the unmentionables unless you come to whole-hearted men. 00:01:49.920 --> 00:02:02.480 If you come to whole-hearted men on Tuesday morning, which we had our largest ever, last Tuesday, four, see, 441 men were in this sanctuary. 00:02:02.719 --> 00:02:04.319 It was an awesome time. 00:02:04.799 --> 00:02:07.439 So you men that are not coming, consider it. 00:02:07.599 --> 00:02:09.199 You have to get up early. 00:02:09.439 --> 00:02:11.199 You have to face hard. 00:02:12.159 --> 00:02:15.360 You have to embrace hard to have blessed saint allies. 00:02:15.520 --> 00:02:20.240 So I want to talk about the unmentionables because they're unmentionable. 00:02:20.479 --> 00:02:21.680 Especially in the church. 00:02:21.759 --> 00:02:23.360 We don't talk about this stuff. 00:02:23.599 --> 00:02:28.560 But turn in your Bibles, if you would, to 2 Corinthians. 00:02:29.680 --> 00:02:32.479 2 Corinthians chapter 3. 00:02:32.800 --> 00:02:35.439 2 Corinthians chapter 3. 00:02:36.159 --> 00:02:50.319 And this is one of those unfortunate cases where the ancient monk who decided to give us chapters and verses, which is what not what the scrolls were. 00:02:50.479 --> 00:02:51.919 They were letters. 00:02:52.159 --> 00:02:54.159 They didn't have chapter and verse. 00:02:54.560 --> 00:03:03.759 You wouldn't write a letter and have chapter and verse, but they were added later for memorization's sake and for the ability for you to open the scriptures and find things quickly. 00:03:04.000 --> 00:03:10.879 But this is an unfortunate case where I feel like they missed it in the chapter heading. 00:03:11.120 --> 00:03:13.280 So you'll see what I'm saying in just a moment. 00:03:13.439 --> 00:03:16.159 So look at chapter 3, verse 18. 00:03:16.319 --> 00:03:18.639 Look at chapter 3, verse 18. 00:03:20.879 --> 00:03:26.879 And he's been, Paul's been talking about the veiled face of Moses. 00:03:28.719 --> 00:03:40.159 So what he was referring to is the fact that Moses had been in the presence of God so much that his face shone. 00:03:42.479 --> 00:03:48.080 And it shone so brightly, this reflection of Christ, that he had to wear a veil. 00:03:48.240 --> 00:04:04.800 But then he references, this is all before this, he references the fact that after a while, his face and the shine of the glory of God was fading. 00:04:05.120 --> 00:04:07.680 But you couldn't tell because it was veiled. 00:04:08.319 --> 00:04:20.480 Now he's saying through Christ and through the life, death, and resurrection of Christ in our lives and believing and putting our faith in him, we are the opposite. 00:04:22.000 --> 00:04:30.639 That we're actually shining the light of Christ more and more as we grow in Christ. 00:04:31.519 --> 00:04:33.519 And he's going to tell us how to do that. 00:04:33.680 --> 00:04:36.160 It's a very, very interesting passage. 00:04:37.120 --> 00:04:40.160 And I think it's one of the great passages of the New Testament. 00:04:41.199 --> 00:04:46.240 Because, church, if you get this, it will set you free. 00:04:46.959 --> 00:04:51.759 If you don't get this, keep coming, because eventually you will. 00:04:52.319 --> 00:04:55.920 Because we will get under your spiritual skin. 00:04:56.160 --> 00:05:02.319 And you'll start realizing you want to go from glory to glory, not from religion to religion. 00:05:02.800 --> 00:05:03.759 So here's what he says. 00:05:03.920 --> 00:05:05.199 Look at verse 18. 00:05:05.519 --> 00:05:30.720 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed, underlined being transformed into the same image, from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. 00:05:31.759 --> 00:05:37.600 So the Christian life is actually supposed to be what we just read. 00:05:37.839 --> 00:05:41.519 It's supposed to be a going from glory to glory. 00:05:42.720 --> 00:05:51.439 And I think it's interesting that he said, like in a mirror dimly, because when we look in a mirror, you see a fading glory. 00:05:52.560 --> 00:05:59.120 Now, all of you that are in your 20s, you are glorious, glorious right now. 00:05:59.360 --> 00:06:02.000 But there's something that's going to happen to you. 00:06:02.560 --> 00:06:11.680 And it might be at 30 and it might be at 40, but it definitely happens at 50 and it goes into overdrive when you're 60. 00:06:11.920 --> 00:06:14.800 But you're fading from glory to glory. 00:06:15.199 --> 00:06:28.959 But in the Christian life, listen, you might be physically fading, you can be spiritually, powerfully growing in Christ. 00:06:29.199 --> 00:06:35.040 And so instead of the fading glory, we see the brighter glory as you're growing in Him. 00:06:35.120 --> 00:06:37.199 Now He tells us how to do it. 00:06:37.519 --> 00:06:41.519 He explains how this is possible. 00:06:42.240 --> 00:06:45.040 So you'll notice chapter 4, verse 1. 00:06:45.120 --> 00:06:45.439 Look at that. 00:06:45.600 --> 00:06:52.240 Chapter 4, verse 1, which I'm saying, that chapter shouldn't even, that chapter break shouldn't even be there, but it is, therefore. 00:06:53.120 --> 00:06:56.560 Circle, therefore, because that's therefore something. 00:06:56.800 --> 00:07:02.959 It's therefore, because he's taking the thought of verse 18 and he's bringing it into the next verse. 00:07:03.120 --> 00:07:12.800 Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we do not lose heart. 00:07:12.959 --> 00:07:19.439 Now, let me just stop for a moment to say that the purpose of 2 Corinthians is not to lose heart. 00:07:20.079 --> 00:07:39.759 All through this second letter to the Corinthians, which were those in that Greek area influenced by the Greek pantheon of gods near Athens, he's saying here that it's really hard to be a Christian there. 00:07:40.079 --> 00:07:46.879 It was really hard to be a believer in Christ, monotheistic, to have one faith in Christ in Corinth. 00:07:46.959 --> 00:07:50.560 It was a very sexually saturated city. 00:07:51.360 --> 00:07:53.360 It was a licentious city. 00:07:53.439 --> 00:07:55.360 It was an idolatrous city. 00:07:55.600 --> 00:07:58.480 And he's saying, You're not going to lose heart, though. 00:07:58.560 --> 00:08:02.480 I'm going to show you how to not lose heart. 00:08:02.879 --> 00:08:07.839 And so some of you here this morning may have lost heart. 00:08:08.240 --> 00:08:17.199 You may be going through a terrible situation, some relational confusion, maybe gender confusion. 00:08:17.439 --> 00:08:25.120 Maybe there are things happening in your life that nobody knows about but you that are tearing your heart apart. 00:08:25.680 --> 00:08:27.360 Don't lose heart. 00:08:27.600 --> 00:08:28.879 Don't lose heart. 00:08:29.120 --> 00:08:31.680 What I'm going to tell you today is going to set you free. 00:08:32.000 --> 00:08:33.600 He says, do not lose heart. 00:08:33.759 --> 00:08:38.399 But we have renounced the hidden things of shame. 00:08:39.200 --> 00:08:40.159 Stop there. 00:08:40.720 --> 00:08:42.320 Underlying shame. 00:08:43.440 --> 00:08:48.399 This is that word we hate. 00:08:49.919 --> 00:08:52.320 It's the word that we all run from. 00:08:52.480 --> 00:08:54.559 It's the word that we don't want to think about. 00:08:54.720 --> 00:08:56.720 We don't want to talk about shame. 00:08:58.480 --> 00:09:01.759 No one wants to talk about it. 00:09:02.080 --> 00:09:09.360 Most of us ignore it, and yet our lives drip with the effects of shame. 00:09:10.559 --> 00:09:18.320 In premarriage counseling, when I'm with young people, maybe premarriage counseling with someone who's getting remarried. 00:09:18.639 --> 00:09:23.120 Maybe it's counseling about sexual issues or brokenness in their lives. 00:09:23.360 --> 00:09:36.720 When I ask the question about, tell me about your child or tell me about your background, it always goes to broken relationships because our life drips with shame. 00:09:37.120 --> 00:09:47.440 Brene Brown, of whom I'm a student of hers in the arena of shame, has said this. 00:09:47.840 --> 00:09:51.600 Shame is basically the fear of being unlovable. 00:09:52.480 --> 00:09:57.360 It's the total opposite of owning our story and feeling worthy. 00:09:57.759 --> 00:10:15.519 In fact, the definition of shame that I have developed from my research is this: shame is an intensely painful feeling or experience of believing that we are flawed and therefore unworthy of love and belonging. 00:10:16.240 --> 00:10:26.799 Shame keeps worthiness away by convincing us that owning our stories will lead to people thinking less of us. 00:10:27.440 --> 00:10:30.240 Shame is all about fear. 00:10:31.279 --> 00:10:37.200 And so our lives drip with shame, and we in the church don't like to talk about it. 00:10:37.519 --> 00:10:42.159 And the reason we don't like to talk about it is because it's too complex. 00:10:42.799 --> 00:10:45.039 The church doesn't like complexity. 00:10:45.200 --> 00:10:46.879 We like things really simple. 00:10:47.120 --> 00:10:58.000 We like to give you the three steps to this, three steps to a happy marriage, four steps to receive Christ, the three steps to get over depression. 00:10:58.399 --> 00:11:03.519 And so what we have is we have this church that's very simplistic. 00:11:04.399 --> 00:11:08.240 And because of that, we have a simplistic Christianity. 00:11:08.960 --> 00:11:17.440 And yet, becoming a disciple is the fact that all truth is God's truth, no matter where it comes from. 00:11:18.320 --> 00:11:37.279 So I don't care if it's Albert Einstein who creates the theory of relativity, who was, I guess, a Jewish agnostic, he discovered a truth that's God's truth. 00:11:38.240 --> 00:11:41.039 That's why I encourage you to read widely. 00:11:41.360 --> 00:11:44.639 Do your research, do your homework. 00:11:44.960 --> 00:11:46.559 Don't be simple. 00:11:47.200 --> 00:11:53.120 Look at things and look deeply at things and then invite Jesus into those things. 00:11:53.360 --> 00:12:03.759 Because you see, we can anoint what the world has no idea about or where it came from, but we do. 00:12:03.919 --> 00:12:05.120 And so we anoint it. 00:12:05.200 --> 00:12:07.519 We say, you know, that's God's truth. 00:12:07.919 --> 00:12:09.279 That's one of my chapters. 00:12:10.240 --> 00:12:11.600 Build a house of truth. 00:12:11.759 --> 00:12:14.639 The habit of building a house of truth. 00:12:15.200 --> 00:12:17.360 We're talking about facing the unmentionable. 00:12:17.440 --> 00:12:18.559 So what is shame? 00:12:18.799 --> 00:12:20.799 Because we don't talk about it much. 00:12:20.960 --> 00:12:22.240 Let me give you three things. 00:12:22.399 --> 00:12:23.039 Write these down. 00:12:23.200 --> 00:12:25.039 Three things about shame you gotta know. 00:12:25.200 --> 00:12:27.919 There's a lot, there's ten things, but I'm gonna give you three. 00:12:28.240 --> 00:12:31.519 Number one, shame is the birthplace of all fear. 00:12:32.000 --> 00:12:35.360 Shame is the birthplace of all fear. 00:12:35.679 --> 00:12:41.519 Shame is the seed from which the vine of fear grows in your heart. 00:12:41.759 --> 00:12:47.440 The vine of fear wraps its branches around every area of our life. 00:12:47.759 --> 00:12:51.360 Shame is about hiddenness and darkness. 00:12:52.000 --> 00:12:58.480 It's those things we just can't tell anyone about our lives. 00:12:58.799 --> 00:13:03.919 For if they knew about it, they would reject us and deem us unworthy. 00:13:04.240 --> 00:13:08.960 Shame and fear are the greatest tools of Satan. 00:13:10.000 --> 00:13:18.480 Shame and fear, which are intertwined together, are the greatest tool of Satan. 00:13:18.799 --> 00:13:20.960 We saw this during COVID. 00:13:21.200 --> 00:13:31.200 We saw in COVID men and women running around entangled by fear because they were entangled by shame. 00:13:31.360 --> 00:13:35.440 Number two, shame makes us half-hearted. 00:13:35.840 --> 00:13:41.519 Shame makes us half-hearted, half alive. 00:13:42.399 --> 00:13:45.759 Because the more you hide something, the more it controls you. 00:13:45.919 --> 00:13:46.879 Did you know that? 00:13:47.200 --> 00:13:49.759 The more you hide something, the more it controls you. 00:13:49.840 --> 00:13:50.559 And guess what? 00:13:50.720 --> 00:13:51.679 You leak. 00:13:51.919 --> 00:13:52.879 You leak. 00:13:53.440 --> 00:14:04.559 And so when you see the arrogant, boastful, prideful person who all they talk about is their accolades and how great they are, they're leaking shame. 00:14:05.679 --> 00:14:09.679 Because they can't be authentic and they can't be real. 00:14:10.960 --> 00:14:15.360 So it makes us half-hearted and it kills our heart and it kills our passions. 00:14:15.600 --> 00:14:19.200 Number three, shame causes us to run and hide. 00:14:19.519 --> 00:14:21.440 Shame causes us to run and hide. 00:14:21.519 --> 00:14:25.039 Most of us are prone to run and hide from our shame and our failures. 00:14:25.279 --> 00:14:29.200 Early on, we learn to escape from our most uncomfortable experiences. 00:14:29.360 --> 00:14:35.360 We're terrified of what has wounded us the most deeply. 00:14:36.960 --> 00:14:41.120 Thinking about our failures, dwelling on shameful things. 00:14:41.279 --> 00:14:45.919 What it does, church, is it brings up the emotions that went with it. 00:14:46.080 --> 00:14:51.519 And it's so painful that we don't want to go there. 00:14:51.679 --> 00:15:06.960 And I'm going to challenge you today that when we face the unmentionables, when we face the shame, when we even face the emotion of that, you break its power over your heart. 00:15:08.639 --> 00:15:26.159 Especially as a believer in Christ, where you know who you are in Christ, that you know that you're a child of God, that you're a son of God, that you're a daughter of God, and that the King of kings and the Lord of Lords lives within you. 00:15:26.639 --> 00:15:31.600 You do not have to be captured by that shame anymore. 00:15:32.000 --> 00:15:35.120 But you're gonna have to face it. 00:15:37.039 --> 00:15:45.120 And so Paul, look back at our verse in verse 1 of chapter 4, he says, We received this ministry. 00:15:46.080 --> 00:15:50.480 There's a ministry of mercy that has been given to us. 00:15:50.559 --> 00:15:52.960 It's a kingdom of God work. 00:15:53.200 --> 00:15:54.559 And then he continues. 00:15:54.799 --> 00:16:07.679 Verse 2 We have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully. 00:16:08.320 --> 00:16:10.799 Here's what's amazing, church. 00:16:11.759 --> 00:16:18.000 We don't lose heart because we renounce the hidden things of shame. 00:16:18.639 --> 00:16:24.000 The only time renounce is used is here in the New Testament, no other place. 00:16:24.240 --> 00:16:25.360 Guess what it means? 00:16:25.600 --> 00:16:29.039 It means to declare out loud. 00:16:30.639 --> 00:16:36.720 It doesn't say repent, even though repentance could be a part of it. 00:16:37.440 --> 00:16:54.559 But I found that most of the time shame is not an issue of repentance, it's an issue of facing it because usually it involves what other people did to us that we cling to, and it's become our image. 00:16:55.039 --> 00:17:01.759 But when we renounce it, we're declaring it out loud, we're not gonna hide anymore. 00:17:02.159 --> 00:17:08.720 We're gonna get it out there so that God can heal it. 00:17:09.440 --> 00:17:24.880 Brene Brown writes, if we want to live in love with our whole hearts, and if we want to engage with the world from a place of worthiness, we have to talk about the things that get in the way. 00:17:25.599 --> 00:17:31.519 Especially shame, fear, and vulnerability. 00:17:33.680 --> 00:17:38.720 So I'm gonna share my story briefly later on about how I had to do this. 00:17:39.119 --> 00:17:44.960 So let me just say this nothing I'm saying here, I haven't lived. 00:17:46.000 --> 00:17:50.079 This is not theory to me, this is reality. 00:17:51.279 --> 00:18:01.359 And living wholehearted for Jesus for the last decade, even though I've been a Christian 30 years before that, has been freeing. 00:18:01.759 --> 00:18:04.240 And I want all of you to experience that. 00:18:04.640 --> 00:18:06.880 And it is possible. 00:18:07.359 --> 00:18:10.640 But there's this problem, and this is what he says. 00:18:10.880 --> 00:18:13.119 We've renounced the hidden things of shame. 00:18:13.279 --> 00:18:18.799 Now, it's interesting because Paul probably carried a lot of shame. 00:18:18.880 --> 00:18:20.400 He knows what he's talking about. 00:18:20.640 --> 00:18:30.720 He's imprisoned Christians, he gave approval to the stoning of the first martyr, Stephen, and probably he killed Christian. 00:18:30.799 --> 00:18:32.960 He probably imprisoned them and they died there. 00:18:33.119 --> 00:18:41.359 So he carries maybe that sense of remorse and guilt for what he had done, and yet he's declaring it. 00:18:41.440 --> 00:18:46.000 And we know in Scripture that he gives his testimony, he says all these things that he did. 00:18:46.160 --> 00:18:48.960 The reason I said it and the reason I know it is because he wrote about it. 00:18:49.200 --> 00:18:52.559 So he renounced that shame, he was open about it. 00:18:53.680 --> 00:18:58.559 But then he says this, because I think this was the temptation for Paul. 00:18:58.880 --> 00:19:01.839 And this is a temptation for all of us in this room. 00:19:02.160 --> 00:19:11.519 Not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully. 00:19:12.480 --> 00:19:13.759 You know what he's saying there? 00:19:14.079 --> 00:19:19.599 He's saying your tendency is to be a poser. 00:19:21.279 --> 00:19:28.400 Your tendency is to use the scriptures to kind of get around who you really are. 00:19:30.160 --> 00:19:32.880 It's a device that we all know. 00:19:33.039 --> 00:19:33.839 I know it well. 00:19:33.920 --> 00:19:41.119 I'm at Wholehearted Men on Tuesday mornings, and for all of you that come to wholehearted men, don't say this to me. 00:19:41.920 --> 00:19:43.279 But I'll say, How are you doing? 00:19:43.920 --> 00:19:45.440 Never been better. 00:19:46.079 --> 00:19:48.960 And all I think is total poser. 00:19:51.759 --> 00:19:53.680 Never been better. 00:19:54.319 --> 00:19:55.599 What a faker. 00:19:58.240 --> 00:20:02.319 I love it when guys respond like it was a sucky week. 00:20:02.960 --> 00:20:05.200 And I always say, tell me about it. 00:20:06.160 --> 00:20:11.599 And for the next moment or two, we have an exchange, we pray together, we move on. 00:20:11.759 --> 00:20:14.880 They've got a table of eight guys where they can be real. 00:20:15.039 --> 00:20:20.880 That's why we do tables of eight, 61 tables of seven to eight guys. 00:20:21.920 --> 00:20:23.200 It's not my message. 00:20:23.359 --> 00:20:31.200 All my message is thematic for that morning, but then it's what really, really happens at the table that matters. 00:20:31.440 --> 00:20:34.480 That's where guys get real about their shame. 00:20:34.640 --> 00:20:37.599 Probably not all the time and not every table. 00:20:38.640 --> 00:20:45.680 But I can tell you this: it's a lot more than it was last week, it's a lot more than it was last year, it's a lot more than it was two years ago. 00:20:45.839 --> 00:20:47.039 We're growing. 00:20:47.920 --> 00:20:48.880 The process. 00:20:50.079 --> 00:21:01.279 But you see, Paul recognized the fact that we all have this tendency to walk in craftiness and handle the word of God deceitfully. 00:21:02.079 --> 00:21:16.000 I challenge all of us here at the road that we would be sincere, authentic disciples, that you have permission here to be real with the right people. 00:21:16.079 --> 00:21:19.279 I'm not saying everybody blabs everything in their life. 00:21:19.440 --> 00:21:29.599 I'm talking about, though, in the constructive nature of relationships that we build, because this is what he says next. 00:21:29.920 --> 00:21:39.920 By manifestation of truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. 00:21:40.640 --> 00:21:41.839 This is so important. 00:21:42.000 --> 00:21:44.000 This is blood stained allies. 00:21:44.160 --> 00:21:52.720 You've got some men for men, you've got some women for women that you can be authentic about. 00:21:54.640 --> 00:21:59.519 That you have someplace to go where you can say. 00:22:00.799 --> 00:22:03.519 I went through this when I was six years old. 00:22:04.720 --> 00:22:07.119 I went through this when I was 14. 00:22:08.640 --> 00:22:12.720 I have been fired six times because I have an anger problem. 00:22:13.519 --> 00:22:15.519 I am addicted to drugs. 00:22:15.680 --> 00:22:17.440 I am addicted to porn. 00:22:17.680 --> 00:22:20.880 I am addicted to whatever. 00:22:21.440 --> 00:22:28.720 And there's some guys there, there's some men and women there who can say, yeah, bro, me too. 00:22:29.119 --> 00:22:31.119 And I'm getting set free. 00:22:31.359 --> 00:22:32.559 Let's pray together. 00:22:32.720 --> 00:22:33.839 Let's stick together. 00:22:34.000 --> 00:22:37.279 Let's quit running and hiding and let's be real. 00:22:38.880 --> 00:22:55.359 The reason you have all these pastors, pastors at IHOP and a pastor at Gateway and a pastor at this place and that place getting caught in sins that they've been involved in for many, many years is because they've learned to be a professional poser. 00:22:56.799 --> 00:23:05.200 And it's really sad because you just you just learn that posing's how you define the Christian life in America. 00:23:05.759 --> 00:23:07.359 Can't we break that? 00:23:08.160 --> 00:23:10.799 Can't we become whole-hearted disciples? 00:23:10.960 --> 00:23:18.319 Can't we get over ourselves and realize we're all broken, but we can all be healed by the power of Jesus? 00:23:20.799 --> 00:23:23.039 So demons love this stuff, you guys. 00:23:23.279 --> 00:23:26.960 Demons love holding you down and keeping you half-hearted. 00:23:28.799 --> 00:23:37.119 I don't know about you, but when I began to discover these new truths in my life, I never wanted to go back to the posing lifestyle. 00:23:37.359 --> 00:23:39.839 I wanted to stay authentic. 00:23:40.079 --> 00:23:54.880 So habit four is a habit of facing the unmentionables of shame and failure, but it's in being vulnerable over these areas we hate to talk about that true authentic healing can happen. 00:23:55.200 --> 00:24:00.880 Such courage to be vulnerable brings breakthrough into wholehearted living. 00:24:01.519 --> 00:24:05.680 So, 10 years ago, I got marched into my office. 00:24:05.839 --> 00:24:08.160 Many of you have heard this, so I won't belabor the point. 00:24:08.240 --> 00:24:09.920 You can read about it in the book. 00:24:10.240 --> 00:24:26.960 But I was put on this four sabbatical by the elders of the church that I had planted and I had been there for 20 years, grown it from zero in my basement to three or four thousand people, and they gave me a piece of paper that read to me what a bad leader I was. 00:24:27.680 --> 00:24:31.519 The one I remember the most is I was an ADD leader. 00:24:32.319 --> 00:24:36.160 We have an ADD leader as our president right now, just so you know. 00:24:36.640 --> 00:24:43.839 But sometimes you need ADD leaders. 00:24:49.200 --> 00:25:03.359 So I felt humiliated, I felt broken, I felt shame, I felt defeated, you name it, any adjective you want to use, I experienced that in my life. 00:25:03.599 --> 00:25:07.200 And I did not want Liz to see that piece of paper. 00:25:07.519 --> 00:25:10.799 And one day, it's like three days later, she says, What's up with you? 00:25:10.960 --> 00:25:18.480 And she already knew I was so down and everything, and and I said, Well, there's something I haven't told you. 00:25:18.720 --> 00:25:21.440 And who knows what she thought when I first said that. 00:25:23.279 --> 00:25:26.880 So I went, you know. 00:25:28.000 --> 00:25:30.960 And she read it, she goes, That's it? 00:25:34.160 --> 00:25:35.599 Yeah, pretty much. 00:25:37.680 --> 00:25:41.920 She goes, I'm so proud of you, of all these things. 00:25:43.839 --> 00:25:45.839 But you guys have some growing to do. 00:25:46.640 --> 00:25:47.599 We all do. 00:25:48.319 --> 00:25:56.880 So I was driving a dirt road up in the mountains a few days later, and I was actually listening to Brene Brown and her famous talk on TED Talk. 00:25:57.359 --> 00:26:01.920 At that time was the most listened to, most watched TED Talk of all time. 00:26:02.000 --> 00:26:07.519 I think it was 36 million views 10 years ago on shame and vulnerability. 00:26:08.319 --> 00:26:19.680 So I pulled over, tears running down my face, and I heard the Lord say, and I can still, I wrote it here in my book, like an audible voice. 00:26:20.319 --> 00:26:27.119 You can either be brave and face your shame, or be a coward and keep running from it. 00:26:27.440 --> 00:26:35.279 And with joy in my heart, kind of this bittersweet joy in my heart, I decided I'm gonna own it. 00:26:36.079 --> 00:26:40.720 I'm gonna own what's on that piece of paper as true. 00:26:41.200 --> 00:26:46.160 And I'm reminded of that famous poem by Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken. 00:26:47.839 --> 00:26:50.480 I shall be telling this with a sigh. 00:26:51.359 --> 00:27:04.079 Somewhere ages and ages hence, two roads diverged in a wood, and I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference. 00:27:06.000 --> 00:27:14.160 So this ministry breakdown began to bring a spiritual breakthrough. 00:27:14.799 --> 00:27:28.000 I chose to face my ADD qualities, I began to face my pride, I began to face my way of treating people which was less than godly. 00:27:28.240 --> 00:27:33.680 I'm gonna face it, I'm gonna expose it, I'm gonna own it. 00:27:34.880 --> 00:27:39.359 And so the next time I was with the elders, I said, hey you guys, guess what? 00:27:40.160 --> 00:27:42.640 Everything you say here is true. 00:27:43.759 --> 00:27:45.119 Let's work on it. 00:27:46.160 --> 00:27:48.400 Men and women, own your story. 00:27:49.279 --> 00:27:52.880 Every one of you in this room has a story to tell. 00:27:53.200 --> 00:27:54.720 Own your story. 00:27:55.519 --> 00:27:57.200 God allowed it to happen. 00:27:57.440 --> 00:28:01.759 God, the enemy did stuff and he's trying to take you out. 00:28:02.559 --> 00:28:10.400 This might be your last chance this Sunday before you do something really, really bad. 00:28:11.359 --> 00:28:12.319 Own it. 00:28:12.960 --> 00:28:14.160 Call it out. 00:28:14.640 --> 00:28:18.559 Be authentic, be real about it, and give it to the Lord. 00:28:18.880 --> 00:28:21.039 He can take it, he already knows everything about it. 00:28:21.279 --> 00:28:24.240 He created you in the unique way that you are. 00:28:24.400 --> 00:28:31.680 And even the bad things that have happened to you weren't there to destroy you, they're actually there to build you up. 00:28:32.480 --> 00:28:39.680 I'm telling you my story, and you have a story to tell a few years from now that we need to hear. 00:28:40.480 --> 00:28:45.839 That nobody has your story like you have your story, and yet it's common to all of us. 00:28:46.000 --> 00:28:59.680 And so when we start becoming honest and authentic about our story, we see the universal nature of the healing of God for all of our lives through the cross of Jesus Christ. 00:29:00.559 --> 00:29:27.920 In Hebrews 12, 1 and 2, we read, therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith, for the joy set before him, he endured the cross. 00:29:28.240 --> 00:29:32.319 Listen to what he says, scorning its shame. 00:29:32.720 --> 00:29:36.400 And he has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 00:29:36.880 --> 00:29:44.640 Listen, consider him who endured such opposition from sinners so that you will not grow weary and what? 00:29:45.039 --> 00:29:46.240 Lose heart. 00:29:46.559 --> 00:29:48.559 Church, don't lose heart. 00:29:49.119 --> 00:29:51.680 The answer is the opposite of what you think. 00:29:51.839 --> 00:29:56.079 You think you won't lose heart by running from the thing that makes you the most uncomfortable. 00:29:56.240 --> 00:29:58.160 I'm telling you, you run to it. 00:29:58.880 --> 00:30:06.240 You run right smack into what the devil has done, into the darkness, and you bring the light of Christ there. 00:30:06.799 --> 00:30:08.720 And it begins to set you free. 00:30:09.200 --> 00:30:11.920 Because look at the rest of our passage. 00:30:12.319 --> 00:30:13.759 Amazing passage. 00:30:14.319 --> 00:30:18.240 Look at, we're back at 2 Corinthians 4. 00:30:18.559 --> 00:30:20.960 Look at verse 6. 00:30:22.160 --> 00:30:24.720 Look at verse 6. 00:30:26.079 --> 00:30:42.640 For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 00:30:42.799 --> 00:30:43.759 You get it? 00:30:44.880 --> 00:30:46.559 Church, do you get it? 00:30:48.480 --> 00:30:52.400 That's what God does to set us free. 00:30:52.799 --> 00:31:05.680 As we're vulnerable, as we're open, he shines his light on the darkness, and the hooks of the devil get appended, they get ripped out, and you start getting healed. 00:31:06.480 --> 00:31:10.160 And a decade ago, that's what I did. 00:31:10.240 --> 00:31:12.000 And I tell you, it works. 00:31:12.400 --> 00:31:16.240 I mean, it wasn't like one time on a road up in the mountains. 00:31:16.319 --> 00:31:20.240 It was that just set the thing, that just kind of set the game. 00:31:20.480 --> 00:31:20.799 Okay? 00:31:21.119 --> 00:31:22.559 Then I knew the game I was playing. 00:31:22.640 --> 00:31:25.759 I didn't know, I didn't know the feel to play before. 00:31:25.839 --> 00:31:31.279 I thought you just get saved, become a really good person, and then build churches. 00:31:33.200 --> 00:31:44.640 What we do is we get saved, and that's just the beginning of this journey of being transformed from glory to glory to glory. 00:31:45.680 --> 00:31:51.599 And so Jesus, the most shameful thing anyone could do is what he did. 00:31:52.079 --> 00:32:03.359 He was stripped naked before a jeering crowd, talk about vulnerability to break the power of shame. 00:32:04.880 --> 00:32:15.680 Church, I want to challenge you that the more you're open about your shame and your brokenness, the more you let the light of Christ shine, the more healed you're going to become. 00:32:18.160 --> 00:32:27.440 Because some of us here were so familiar with half-hearted living that we don't even know what whole-hearted living is. 00:32:27.680 --> 00:32:29.920 You're so used to having no joy. 00:32:30.079 --> 00:32:33.039 You're so used to being angry and bitter about everything. 00:32:33.200 --> 00:32:41.599 You're so used to complaining about everything, and you just kind of live your life that way, and you're like, you know, you're good if everything's good. 00:32:41.839 --> 00:32:44.079 You're bad if everything's bad. 00:32:44.559 --> 00:32:46.559 Where's the power in that? 00:32:47.039 --> 00:32:49.279 That's what everybody does out there. 00:32:49.839 --> 00:32:54.880 The difference is when everything is bad, you're good. 00:32:55.440 --> 00:33:03.920 Because you're walking in wholehearted power in the Holy Spirit because the devil doesn't have anything on you anymore. 00:33:04.720 --> 00:33:28.400 It's kind of like if all we've ever done is eat junk food, and every time we get a headache, we take drugs and pharmaceuticals to take away the headache, and we're in this cycle, and then someone comes along and says, You know, if you started drinking more water, exercising a little bit, and eating these kinds of foods, you wouldn't have any headaches anymore. 00:33:29.279 --> 00:33:32.240 Wow! What a novel thought. 00:33:32.480 --> 00:33:36.960 And then you start doing it and you don't want to go back because you're living healthy. 00:33:37.200 --> 00:33:37.839 Right? 00:33:38.720 --> 00:33:45.599 Some of you are going, now you've you've gone from preaching to pandering, don't go there. 00:33:46.160 --> 00:33:48.960 I gotta have my burger. 00:33:51.599 --> 00:33:59.599 Now, what I'm saying, church, is that there's freedom out there awaiting you if you'll be willing to have some blood-stained allies in your life. 00:34:00.079 --> 00:34:02.480 And it's really, really exciting. 00:34:02.640 --> 00:34:05.200 And it's really wholehearted living. 00:34:10.079 --> 00:34:12.960 Thank you for listening to the Born for War podcast. 00:34:13.119 --> 00:34:16.559 We hope today's message has empowered you to make a difference in your world. 00:34:16.719 --> 00:34:22.559 To connect with Pastor Steve's sermons, books, and blog, visit Steve Holtonline.org. 00:34:22.719 --> 00:34:23.599 God bless.